Philippines seeks speedy UN ruling on China sea dispute

The Philippines on June 19 said it will ask a United Nations tribunal to
speed up its ruling on the country’s marine dispute with China in the
East Sea, with the current tensions worsening.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose revealed that the
country will file a formal request to the international tribunal
headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, to seek a resolution
on the case within this year or early 2015.

Late
last month, China rejected a notice from the tribunal which gave
Beijing until December 15 to reply to the first international case
filed against it over the East Sea row.

In
2013, the Philippines submitted a 4,000-page document detailing
arguments and legal evidence against China ’s territorial claim over
the East Sea – which is invalid and illegal according to the 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Government said it had to bring this issue to tribunal after the
arrangement for peaceful negotiations with the Chinese side proved
fruitless.

While objecting to the tribunal’s
attribution, China claimed that it will be ready to settle any
territorial disputes in the East Sea through bilateral talks.-VNA